Recorded earlier this summer at at Vienna‘s Musikverein to celebrate Anne-Sophie Mutter’s 60th birthday. The album features the violinist with her ensemble of hand-picked musicians, Mutter’s Virtuosi. For this new recording, they perform a programme of Vivaldi Concerto for Three Violins in F major, Bach Violin Concerto in A minor, Brandenburg Concerto no.3 in G major, Previn’s Nonet (2014) , Joseph Bologne Concerto in A major, op.5 no.2, plus encores from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and John Williams.

Anne-Sophie Mutter first performed the Violin Concerto no.2 by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, at the 2022 Lucerne Festival. The 18th-century composer, who was also known as “le Mozart noir”, had his career stunted by the racism prevalent at the time: an issue which Mutter and her ensemble wish to give the serious consideration it deserves. The album also features two encores by John Williams, specially arranged for Mutter’s Virtuosi, Previn’s Nonet – commissioned for Mutter’s Virtuosi – and Summer’s Presto from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” – an exhilarating finale for this demanding programme.

For years, Anne-Sophie Mutter has been performing together with various scholarship students of her foundation – in order to familiarise them with the life of a professional musician and to introduce them to a broader audience. In the spring of 2011 she started the additional project Mutter’s Virtuosi: this ensemble under the violinist’s artistic leadership consists of current and former scholarship holders of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation as well as selected other young musicians. On their tours through Europe, North and South America as well as Asia, Mutter’s Virtuosi regularly introduce their audience to new works; benefit concerts are also a fixed part of every tour programme.